Could you provide us with a brief historical background on your company, its structure and today's main activities?
The history of Uzbektourism is very much related to the history of independence of the country. It was created in 1992 based on the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It combined the former tourism structures of the former Soviet Union such as Intourist, Sputnik and Professional Tourism Union . The creation of Uzbektourism presumed the dynamic development of tourism in Uzbekistan, since 1994 the management of tourism orients on marketing relations and our company has become the one who facilitates and coordinates tourism. The privatization of state tourism companies has started and many companies were privatized, transformed into joint stock companies, etc. We now have about 400 private tourism companies and there are tour operators, tour agents and private hotels. Our president says that the future belongs to the private sector. At the same time we attracted many foreign investors into the tourism area of the country. There are many foreign companies like Malaysian, German, British, French, Indonesian, etc. which are involved in the management of hotels. At the same time there are many tour operators who opened their representations and were accredited in Uzbekistan. The interest shown by foreigners is increasing year by year.
During this time we became a member of the World Tourism Organization. Besides that we were elected as a member of the Executive committee of the World Tourism Organization, and this happened due to the support of the government. A few Presidential decrees supporting the development of tourism in Uzbekistan were issued. I believe there is no country like Uzbekistan that has so many tax privileges in the field of tourism. In 1999, a tourism law was ratified, and a decree from the President of Uzbekistan was issued in connection wit the tourism development program for 2005. Therefore, we are slowly moving towards the goals we set.
I would also like to draw your attention on the fact that our company is a permanent member of the biggest tourism fairs world-wide
What have been the most significant achievements in the tourism sector, and what are the infrastructure projects being undertaken ?
The tourism infrastructure is very much bonded with services such as aviation, railway, transportation, souvenir production, etc. If we take a look at aviation a big number of flights with "Uzbekistan Airways" that has the latest aircraft models were opened. If we take a look at railway services, the national railway company has implemented modern trains that can provide better services for tourists. As for the highways you can see that they are getting wider and better and one of the main highway is the one that goes from Ferghana Valley to China and further on, which is also a continuation of the Great Silk Road. Our government spends a considerable amount of funds on the restoration of historical monuments - and as you know, we have a long tradition in that respect. I always say that the gas, the oil and other reserves may sooner or later end but the interest shown by people to ancient histories will never stop.
One more thing is that we invest a lot of funds
into the education of our people. There are many
young men who went to study tourism, marketing and
management through the "Umid" Foundation
in 2000. This fund was created specifically to allow
talented young people to study abroad. Sooner or
later, those people will replace us, and will come
back with a good knowledge. They will contribute
to increase the interest of foreigners towards Uzbekistan. |
Can you give us some figures in terms of tourism inflow last year ? Where do most tourists come from ?
We have accepted about 1 million tourists in 2000 and there are many tourists coming from Germany, France, England, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Holland and many other countries.
What are the guidelines of your tourism strategy ?
We want to differentiate the traditional type of tourism which is just sightseeing in Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, etc. There are many regions that can offer different types of tourism, in other words we can offer eco tourism, desert tourism, water tourism and many other things. We also want to develop tourism for foreign students which is very specific.
As for investments, we negotiate with many leading companies to transfer our hotels to their management, construction of new ones, etc. We realize that we will not be able to achieve the goals we have set without foreign investment.
Another element is that we will try hard to develop the private tourism sector because it is more mobile, less bureaucratic and the future as I said belongs to the private sector.
Can you give us some examples of new hotels that have been established in the recent past and new hotels that will be opened in the near future here in Uzbekistan?
We are going to construct hotels in Khiva, and Samarkand, and we are going to reconstruct hotels in Shahrisabz, Ferghana, Bukhara and Tashkent.
Could you elaborate on your future prospects, and what you do consider as your biggest challenge in the near future ?
We have very realistic plans. As you know, any business requires risk taking as long as it remains within reasonable limits. In our case, our risks must be proportional to our abilities.We can certainly construct thousands of high class hotels, but they will not be functioning at full capacity. Another case, let's suppose that tomorrow we had ten million tourists willing to travel to Uzbekistan, we would not be able to accept them. As you see there are different ways to look at the tourism product and we count them all to take the next alternative move. Everything should go in parallel with the demand to Uzbekistan and the main point should be a base for foreign investment to come to Uzbekistan. So, the demand should define our strategies, and we will be acting based on that demand.
Since our readers are all potential investors to Uzbekistan what would be your final message to them?
For businessmen, I would say, do your business in Uzbekistan and you will find benefit. For the other readers, I would say, come to Uzbekistan and you will see how beautiful is our country. Welcome to Uzbekistan.
NOTE: World Investment News Ltd cannot be made responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions. |
National Company Uzbektourism